


Colossal Crush

by LenoirWhittlethorn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, mmo rpg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 21:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4152828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LenoirWhittlethorn/pseuds/LenoirWhittlethorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi believed he was too old for video games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colossal Crush

The Utgard bar was bustling for a Monday night, but it was never too crowded for one table to be reserved. Sitting at the same booth since Utgard opened a few years ago, three men chatted freely. 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Levi grumbled.

“Stop making it sound painful,” a blonde man with large eyebrows replied and nudged Levi. “It’s a great way to relax. And we all know you need relaxation.” He grinned when Levi glowered at him. 

“Erwin, I’m nearly hitting thirty.” Levi poured himself another cup of sake.

The other man sitting across Erwin ran a hand over his distinguished nose. “Age doesn’t matter nowadays with gaming,” he stated softly.

Erwin snapped his fingers, “A valid point, Mike.” He took his glass of rum-and-cola and drank the rest of it.

Levi sighed and loosened his tie. “I’m going to suck at it. I never grew up with any form of video games.”

“It’s good stress relief; RC is about taking in the environment, interactions, and accomplishing goals,” Erwin reasoned. “The atmosphere is rich and who knows, you may actually make some more friends than just us three.”

Levi finished his drink and scoffed. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime, Son,” Erwin quickly responded and was rewarded with another glare.

Mike snorted and shook his head. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, Levi, I promise.”

Shrugging, Levi let the conversation dangle in silence while he looked around for their waitress. Levi caught sight of her stepping out of the back room with another person. He was used to Nanaba’s light footsteps, but whoever was walking behind her clomped like a construction worker. Sure enough, in twenty seconds, Nanaba came into view with a practiced smile that would dazzle any customers. She usually never used it on Levi and the gang, but as Mike said, she definitely was training someone. 

“Heya, guys, did you need another round?” Nanaba chirped.

“Of course, we have a quota to meet,” Erwin replied and rested his elbows on the table. “So a big bird told me you were training, Nanaba?” He smiled when Mike tensed in his seat.

Nanaba briefly looked at Mike, some pink appearing on her face, but she only enhanced her smile. “Yup, I had to go over some safety rules in the back and warn about some of our regulars,” she teased.

“Oh, nothing to worry about then, we’re new here,” Erwin shot back and Levi shook his head. 

“Anyway, meet the new server at Utgard, Hange!” Nanaba announced and stepped aside.

Levi tried to do his usual glance, but something about the new server caught his eye. The name was gender neutral and honestly it fit this person well. Hange wore black jeans fit for men, a baggy buttoned shirt, and had big tennis shoes on. The neck was slender, as was the chin, but both sexes could inherit that. Hange caught him staring and gaped in shock.

A soft nudge from Erwin tore Levi’s attention away from the server. Even though Levi was staring at Erwin, the blonde gentleman didn’t bat an eye towards him; he was focusing his attention on Hange. Levi turned his attention towards the table as Erwin introduced everyone and another nudge almost made Levi smack Erwin.

“Hey,” Levi mumbled and looked up at Hange. 

“Hi, Levi.” Hange stammered when saying his name. 

‘ _That voice is low, husky even,_ ’ Levi thought and inwardly cringed at using the term ‘husky’. ‘ _Their first day and I’m dissecting them._ ’

Nanaba patted Hange on the shoulder. “All right, now let’s write down some orders.” She handed her notepad to Hange. 

Everyone simply ordered refills of their drinks, which seemed to relieve Hange. When Nanaba and Hange left to pick up the drinks, Hange looked over at Levi while walking and tripped. Nanaba caught Hange in time, but everyone in Utgard saw the flub and some snickered. Levi and his friends didn’t.

As usual, Erwin was the one to start chatting. “Nanaba seems to be attached to this one, Mike.” 

“I think they knew each other from college,” Mike replied and sat back. “Hange only spoke to Levi.” 

“You noticed that too?” Erwin grinned and lightly slapped the table. “Looks like the new server has eyes for you, Levi.”

“Shove it,” Levi growled and crossed his arms over his chest. “And stop nudging me like a granny at church. There is nothing there, so stop looking into it.” 

Levi fidgeted after uncrossing his arms, unsure of how to handle the new sensation fluttering in his chest. ‘ _Acting like a freakin’ teenager. I’ve had women stare at me before, but this is different._ ’ 

“Hange was staring a lot, but I think Levi was staring longer,” Erwin teased.

“I didn’t gawk, Erwin, because there’s nothing happening,” Levi declared. 

At that moment, Nanaba reappeared at the table. “Hange’s bringing the drinks, it’ll be a moment,” Nanaba reassured and she gently waved at Hange who was still by the back room. 

Hange entered Levi’s peripheral vision and he tensed up. Hange moved awkwardly with the tray in one hand, making him nervous. When Hange handed out Mike and Erwin’s drinks, there was no apparent difficulty. Despite his earlier protests to not gawking, when Hange leaned forward to handover Erwin’s drink, Levi caught how the shirt’s fabric stretched across an outline of a small, but definitely rounded bosom. 

‘ _Huh, wonder why she wears baggy shirts,_ ’ Levi thought, and then hissed at his stupidity. ‘ _I can’t believe this._ ’

Levi looked up at Hange and she was staring at him again. Behind her glasses, were a pair of brown of eyes that seemed to burn like summer sunlight. He furrowed his eyebrows and she broke eye contact. She set the tray down on the table, her hands were shaking, and deciding to follow example, Levi reached out to help Hange hand him his drink. Just as Hange lifted the bottle, Levi’s hand touched hers and both slightly jolted. 

Hange dropped the bottle, which did a little bounce and tipped over towards Levi. The ladies gasped in shock as the sake spilled all over Levi’s pants. Erwin and Mike shut their eyes, cringing as the bottle rolled off the table and broke on the floor. Levi groaned in disgust and grabbed some napkins to wipe up the pool on the table. Erwin and Mike scrambled to grab anything that could absorb the alcohol, but they stopped when Hange began using her sleeves to soak up the spill. 

“I am so sorry!” Hange apologized and kept her head low, causing her bangs to cover her face. 

Levi grabbed Hange’s arms and lightly pushed them away. “You didn’t have to use your own shirt,” he scolded.

Pure shame was painted on Hange’s face and she only bowed before running into the back room. Nanaba shook her head as she carefully picked up the broken pieces of the bottle. Levi slid out of the booth and cringed when his pants stuck to his skin. 

Nanaba clicked her tongue before standing up straight to look at Levi. “Would it have killed you to squeeze in a ‘thank you’ in that blunt scolding of your’s?” She sighed in aggravation.

****

Pangs of guilt hit Levi once he made it home and showered to get rid of the sake smell. Hange’s actions weren’t graceful, but they were earnest. She hadn’t appeared at all when Nanaba returned with the bill.

Since everyone retired early from Utgard, it was mutually agreed they’d attempt to set up Levi in Reign of the Colossi. It was no surprise when Levi logged onto the computer, that his friends were already messaging him. 

It took an additional hour full of instant message beeps and Levi cursing under his breath, but finally he found himself at the main menu screen of the blasted MMO game. While Erwin was typing a novel about the importance of the different classes and races, Levi picked the generic Human race and picked the rapier as weapon of choice. He sat back when a million options on the avatar’s look appeared. Curiosity got the better of him and he began playing around with skin tone and facial features. Once he was satisfied, he messaged everyone he was done and everyone stopped talking on the instant message board and logged into the server.

***  
Levi only heard the soft white noise in his headset when everyone saw his avatar spawn into existence. He almost spoke up but he was equally stunned in silence. His friends told him their usernames so he knew who was who, but at the same time he didn’t know who they were. 

Mike was a huge, albino orc wielding a massive warhammer and was bare-chested. Erwin was a female sorcerer with pale blue skin and there was plenty of it considering the skimpy black leather outfit hardly left anything to the imagination.

Erwin, as usual, was the first to speak up. “Levi, are you serious? You practically chose default and you made your character look like you?” Erwin sighed like a disappointed mother.

“It’s my avatar, and are you serious? Now I won’t be able to look at you at work without thinking ‘big, blue boobs’,” Levi sneered.

“I like my big, blue boobs. The whole point of avatars is to be what you can’t in the real world,” Erwin defended.

“I am not going to be a half naked woman holding rotating inviso-balls in one hand and clutching a withered staff in the other,” Levi snapped. Usually, Erwin’s comments bounced off of him, but the night had been going downhill since they entered the bar. 

Mike snorted and had his large character lumber in between them. “Hey, we created what we want and this is what Levi wants. At least we can tell which human is Levi. Good job on your avatar, Levi,” Mike’s low tone was slightly slurred, but Levi took the compliment. 

***  
Levi was lost and alone.

Even though he was chatting with the others, they were in the dark in regards to his location. Levi had to admit, before getting lost in the Ancient Atrium, he was having fun “level grinding” with everyone. According to the others, it was still a big deal he was lost in the labyrinth, because he was still at the novice level whereas the area’s monsters were nearly twice that. A huge message blared across the screen that the Atrium’s Colossus had awakened. 

“I’m just going to stand by this large tree,” Levi announced to the others and had his character facing a huge tree. “I mean this one is huge, and there’s a rusted metal ring around the trunk,” Levi clarified with some annoyance and then in the far right of his screen, he saw a username pop up.

Erwin had told Levi that other players could be enemies as well, so he immediately drew out his rapier. Unfortunately, he spammed the attack button and hit the tree several times. The other player was a large human man decked out in dragoon armor. Levi barely had enough time to read the message the man typed out before a loud roar sounded off. 

The man had typed, “RUN, IT’S A COLOSS” and promptly swung at Levi’s character, causing him to fly back into another tree. 

Levi swore angrily, which caused his friends to all speak up in concern. “I woke up a freakin’ Colossus,” he grumbled and a wave of curses and low groans filled his ears.

The large health bar of the Colossus sprawled across Levi’s screen and he snorted when its name was revealed as Yggdrasil. Suddenly, loud music began blaring, with a choir singing nonsensical syllables. Levi ignored his friends’ panicked chatter as they tried to figure out faster ways of getting to him. He slowly scrolled through his inventory to dig out a potion, meanwhile the dragoon knight known as Oze Genah was engaging Yggdrasil singlehanded. 

Levi typed in the chat, “Let me help”, after Yggdrasil swung an enormous fist down on Oze.

“No, I got it” was the simple response and Oze jumped up into the sky.

Levi held his breath and then gasped as the screen lit up with flames of blue and green. Oze had pierced the head of Yggdrasil with his long spear and that was the source of the flames. In its final death animation, Yggdrasil erupted into vines and ensnared Oze. Levi heard the sharp snap as Oze’s helmet shattered along with his armor. The music faded into soft cries and the chatbox had the loud declaration of Yggdrasil being defeated.

The chatbox exploded with jumbled speech that Levi could not decipher at all; he had his character run towards the wounded warrior. Oze stood up and Erwin and the others demanded to know Levi’s status, but he was preoccupied.

Oze Genah had long, brown hair, but his eyes made Levi freeze in place. This game was breathtaking, especially when it came to camera angles and avatar details, but Oze’s eyes were on a completely different level. It was eerie. Levi realized he hadn’t spoken to Oze at all, so he quickly typed something to him.

“Congrats on the victory, but you didn’t have to shove me out of the way,” Levi scoffed under his breath when Oze threw a gift at him.

“I’m sorry, but I had to protect you,” Oze replied in the chat.

Levi clicked on the present icon and it was a giant red flower called ‘The Heart of Yggdrasil’. “Because I’m weak?” Levi typed angrily.

“No, because you weren’t having fun. You seem the type to give up if you get bashed down,” Oze typed and added a sad emote at the end. 

The truth struck harder, since a stranger had said it. 

“You can keep this, I don’t want it,” Levi dragged the flower out of his inventory and onto the grass, but the item refused to be removed.

A portal formed behind Levi and his party members appeared. At the same time, Oze opened his own portal and disappeared. “Please treasure it,” Oze typed.

“Levi, I can’t believe he gave you the Heart of Yggdrasil!” Mike declared over the headset, his voice temporarily going robotic due to his connection.

“Levi?” Erwin’s voice was filled with concern.

“I’m fine,” Levi responded softly.

“That Oze is a strange one. A high level dragoon knight like him hanging around a level two labyrinth? And he gave Levi an engagement gift?” Mike questioned with childlike curiosity. 

Levi curled his bare toes against the floor and breathed a bit too loudly into the headset. “Erwin, is there anyway to get Oze’s email?”

“Definitely, give me a second.” 

Levi sat back in his computer chair, unable to get the knight’s eyes out of his mind.

***  
The Utgard bar was experiencing a slow Tuesday night, which was beneficial to Levi if he wanted to test out his hunch. Erwin was the only one that was aware of Levi’s plan and would not stop smirking to himself. Mike and Erwin eyed Levi, but eventually went into idle chatter about their jobs. Thankfully, Hange was being trained again, so Nanaba had her close by.

“Out on a Tuesday night, boys?” Nanaba asked warily with her hands on her hips. 

“I just wanted to apologize,” Levi spoke up, astonishing his friends. “Oh, hold on a moment.” Levi pulled out his phone and typed up a quick email to Oze Genah and sent it. He then pocketed his cellphone and looked past Nanaba’s confused expression towards Hange who was observing him again. “Hange, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shove you like that.”

Hange adjusted her glasses in nervousness and stepped forward a little. “You don’t have to—” She stopped speaking when her cellphone began chirping.

“Texting during work,” Erwin playfully scolded and winked. “Naughty.”

“N-no it’s an email,” Hange instinctively defended and covered her mouth, realizing the trap.

Levi smirked, admiring how visible Hange’s blush was and was about to add in his own teasing, but running away seemed to be Hange’s quirk and she sped for the back room. On impulse, Levi rose from his seat and chased after Hange, ignoring the shouts behind him. Hange swung the door behind her, but Levi burst through using his left shoulder as a battering ram. 

“Oze!” Levi shouted.

Hange stopped in her tracks, but before Levi could turn her around she tried running past him. Levi’s reflexes triggered and he stood in Hange’s way, which caused her to crash into him. He held her awkwardly as she tried to get better footing. Eventually, she stopped flailing and relaxed, which told Levi to release her.

“Why all of these overdramatic reactions? Why were you a male knight? Are you just playing around with me?” Levi demanded and put a hand through his hair. 

Hange stood her full height, though her eyes were indicating she felt small. “I’m not playing around with you, Levi. I’m a male knight because they have better armor and design. And I’m sorry if you think I’m overdramatic.” Her chest shook when she tried breathing normally. 

Levi walked up to Hange, digesting her words. “Did you protect me because that avatar looked like me?” he asked quietly.

“No, if you left click, you can see a player’s profile. You, uh, used your real name instead of an alias.” Hange didn’t meet Levi’s eyes as she muttered the response.

“We just met.”

Hange cleared her throat as her face reddened more. “Um, Nanaba and I are friends through college, so we share the same online social network. She had pictures of her birthday party and you were tagged in a few. I...I saw your solemn expression and something just—” Hange waved in the air and then put a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to approach you.”

“Then working here?” 

“A way to get to know you,” Hange spoke through her hand, her eyes watering. 

There was heated silence between the two as the truth began forming a bridge. Levi did something he hadn’t done in a while. He chuckled. This woman had gone the distance just on the slim chance that they’d eventually talk together. He decided that he should at least meet her halfway. Levi approached Hange and gently kissed the back of Hange’s hand that covered her mouth.

“You can woo me any time, Lady Knight,” Levi murmured.

When Levi’s friends gained the courage to enter the room, they saw him standing next to Hange. Levi was smirking confidently, which confused his friends until they looked down at his right hand. It was clasped around Hange’s and their eyes travelled up Hange’s arm and noticed she was hiding her reddened face with her free hand. 

“Hey, guys, you think there’s enough room in our party for a dragoon knight?” Levi asked and Hange let out a strangled cry.


End file.
